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RISE   AND  FUTURE  OF   )RRJGAT|OM  lH  THE  UA/lTED 


HT 


RISE   AND   FUTURE   OF   IRRIGATION    IN    THE   UNITED 
-^  STATES. 

By  ELWOOD  ^\JEAD, 
Expert  in  Charge  of  Irrigation  Investigations,  Office  of  Experiment  Stations. 

REMAINS   OF  ANCIENT   IRRIGATION   WORKS. 

The  earliest  pathway  of  civilization  on  the  American  continent  led 
along  the  banks  of  the  streams.  In  various  parts  of  the  Southwest, 
notably  in  the  Salt  River  Valley  of  Arizona,  in  northern  New  Mexico, 
and  along  the  southern  borders  of  Colorado  and  Utah  are  well-defined 
remains  of  irrigation  works  which  have  outlived  by  many  centuries 
the  civilization  to  which  they  belonged.  In  at  least  one  instance  the 
bank  of  an  ancient  canal  has  been  utilized  as  a  part  of  modern  works. 

Riding  up  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande,  in  the  first  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  Spanish  explorers  found,  in  the  midst  of  arid  sur- 
roundings beds  of  beautiful  roses,  "not  unlike  those  in  the  gardens 
of  Castile,"  as  they  noted  in  their  diaries.  They  also  found  Pueblo 
Indians  irrigating  the  thirsty  soil,  as  their  forefathers  had  done  for 
centuries  before  them  and  as  their  descendants  are  still  doing  to-day. 
In  this  valley  and  along  the  tributary  streams,  and  at  other  places  in 
the  desert  wastes  of  the  Southwest,  Spanish  settlements  sprung  up 
and  maintained  themselves  by  means  of  these  life-giving  waters.  The 
ditches  at  Lascruces,  N.  Mex.,  have  an  unbroken  record  of  three 
hundred  years  of  service,  the  history  of  which  is  written  in  the  banks 
of  the  canals  and  in  the  fields  irrigated.  This  is  due  to  the  sediment 
with  which  the  waters  of  the  Rio  Grande  are  laden.  Year  after  year  this 
has  slowly  added  layer  on  layer  to  the  sides  and  bottoms  of  these  ditches, 
until  from  being  channels  cut  below  the  surface  of  the  soil  they  are 
now  raised  2  or  3  feet  above.  It  is  here  that  one  can  yet  find  agricul- 
ture almost  as  primitive  as  that  of  the  days  of  Pharaoh,  where  grain 
is  reaped  with  the  sickle  and  thrashed  by  the  trampling  of  goats. 

EARLY   IRRIGATION   IN   CALIFORNIA. 

From  these  settlements  and  from  the  conquered  cities  of  Mexico 
adventurous  missionaries  pushed  their  way  still  farther  westward 
until  they  came  in  sight  of  the  Pacific,  teaching  the  Indians  the  crude 
art  of  irrigation,  which  they  had  learned  either  in  Spain  or  of  the  sim- 
ple inhabitants  of  the  interior,  and  making  oases  of  bloom  and  fruit- 
age among  the  hills  and  deserts  of  the  coast.  So  came  the  early 

591 


t 
592    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

churches  and  gardens  of  California  and  the  first  small  impulse  toward 
the  conquest  of  its  fertile  soil,  which  must  always  be  gratefully  asso- 
ciated with  the  memory  of  the  Mission  fathers. 

Measured  by  their  cost  or  the  skill  required  to  construct  them,  the 
small,  rude  furrows  which  watered  these  gardens  are  now  of  little 
importance.  Compared  to  the  monumental  engineering  works  which 
have  succeeded  them,  they  possess  to-day  but  little  interest.  The  best 
preserved  of  these  Mission  gardens  is  now  an  insignificant  feature  in  a 
landscape  which  includes  miles  on  miles  of  cement-lined  aqueducts, 
scores  of  pumping  stations,  and  acres  on  acres  of  orange  and  lemon 
orchards,  cultivated  with  thoroughness  and  skill  not  surpassed  in  any 
section  of  the  Old  World  or  the  New.  It  was  far  different  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  thirty  or  more  of  these  gardens 
which  were  scattered  along  the  coast  between  the  Mexican  border  and 
San  Francisco  were  the  sole  resting  places  of  weary  travelers  and  their 
fruit  and  foliage  the  only  relief  in  summer  from  the  monotonous  land- 
scape presented  by  the  brown  and  arid  hills  which  surrounded  them 
on  every  side.  They  were  under  those  conditions  not  only  successful 
centers  of  influence  from  which  to  carry  on  the  Christianizing  of  the 
Indian  tribes,  but  forces  tending  to  break  up  the  migratory  impulse  by 
the  establishing  of  homes  among  the  earty  Spanish  explorers. 

BEGINNINGS    OF   MODERN   IRRIGATION. 

For  the  beginnings  of  ^nglo-Saxon  irrigation  in  this  country  we 
must  go  to  the  Salt  Lake  Valley  of  Utah,  where,  in  July,  1849',  the 
Mormon  pioneers  turned  the  clear  waters  of  City  Creek  upon  the  sun- 
baked and  alkaline  soil  in  order  that  they  might  plant  the  very  last 
of  their  stock  of  potatoes  in  the  hope  of  bringing  forth  a  crop  to  save 
the  little  company  from  starvation. 

Utah  is  interesting  not  merely  becanse  it  is  the  cradle  of  our  modern 
irrigation  industry,  but  even  more  so  as  showing  how  important  are 
organizations  and  public  control  in  the  diversion  and  use  of  rivers. 
Throughout  the  pioneer  period  of  their  history  the  settlers  of  Utah 
were  under  the  direction  of  exceptionally  able  and  resourceful  leaders, 
who  were  aided  by  the  fact  that  their  followers  were  knit  together  by 
a  dominating  religious  impulse.  These  leaders  had  the  wisdom  to 
adapt  their  methods  and  shape  their  institutions  to  conform  to  the 
peculiar  conditions  and  environment  of  a  land  strange  and  new  to 
men  of  English  speech.  They  found  that  irrigation  was  necessary  to 
their  existence  in  the  home  that  they  had  chosen,  and  that  the  irriga- 
tion canal  must  therefore  be  the  basis  of  their  industrial  organization, 
which  was  largely  cooperative;  hence,  the  size  of  their  farms,  which 
are  less  than  30  acres  upon  the  average,  the  nature  of  their  social 
relations,  which  are  close  and  neighborly.  (Pis.  LIV  and  LV  show 
some  methods  of  irrigation  and  the  improvement  following  the  irriga- 
tion canal.) 


Yearbook  U,  S    Dept   of  Agriculture,  1899. 


PLATE  LIV. 


FIG.  1.— THE  FIRST  IRRIGATION. 


FIG.  2.— A  LATER  IRRIGATION. 


Yearbook  U.  S.   Dept  of  Agriculture,   1899. 


PLATE  LV. 


FIG.  1  .—APPEARANCE  OF  IRRIGATION  CANAL  WHEN  FIRST  COMPLETED. 


FIG.  2.— APPEARANCE  OF  IRRIGATION  CANAL  TEN  YEARS  AFTER  COMPLETION. 


Yearbook  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,   1899. 


PLATE  LVI. 


FIG.  1.— VIEW  AT  THE  HEAD  OF  ONE  OF  THE  EARLY  IRRIGATION  CANALS  IN  UTAH. 


FIG.  2.— MOUNT  UNION,  FROM  UNION  PASS. 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  593 

That  the  great  material  results  which  quickly  followed  could  have 
been  realized  without  the  cohesion  which  came  from  an  association 
dominated  by  religious  discipline  and  controlled  by  the  superior  intel- 
ligence of  the  head  of  the  Mormon  Church,  is  doubtful ;  but  that  the 
character  of  institutions  in  the  valleys  of  Utah,  both  industrial  and 
social,  was  chiefly  due  to  the  environments  in  which  they  were  placed 
is  beyond  dispute.  Cooperation  became  the  dominant  principle  sim- 
ply because  the  settlers  wrere  in  a  land  without  capital,  and  it  was 
beyond  the  power  of  the  individual  to  turn  the  mountain  current  from 
its  course  and  spread  it  upon  his  lands.  Only  the  labor  of  many  indi- 
viduals, working  under  organization  and  discipline,  could  make  the 
canals  or  distribute  the  waters.  A  small  farm  unit  was  chosen,  not 
because  men  were  less  greedy  for  land  than  in  all  other  new  countries, 
but  because  it  was  quickly  seen  that  the  extent  of  the  water  supply 
was  the  measure  of  production,  and  their  ability  to  provide  this  was 
small.  Diversified  farming,  which  is  one  of  the  leading  causes  of  the 
remarkably  even  prosperity  of  Mormon  agriculture,  was  resorted  to 
because  the  Territory  was  so  far  removed  from  other  settlements  that 
it  was  compelled  to  become  absolutely  self-sustaining.  The  small 
farm  unit  made  near  neighbors,  and  this  advantage  was  still  more 
enhanced  by  assembling  the  farmers'  homes  in  convenient  village 
centers.  One  reason  for  adopting  this  plan,  in"  the  first  place,  was 
doubtless  for  protection  against  the  Indians,  but  it  has  become  a  per- 
manent feature,  which  is  still  adhered  to  in  making  new  settlements 
because  most  satisfactory  to  the  social  instinct.  (A  view  at  the  head 
of  one  of  the  early  irrigation  canals  in  Utah  is  shown  in  PI.  LVI,  fig.  1.) 

COOPERATIVE   COLONIES   IN   COLORADO   AND   CALIFORNIA. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  created  the  Overland  Trail,  which 
wound  its  tortuous  course  across  the  hitherto  trackless  wastes  of  the 
arid  domain.  Its  stations  were  usually  along  the  banks  of  the  streams. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  these,  settlers  had  established  themselves,  and 
by  means  of  simple  furrows  turned  the  waters  of  the  streams  upon  the 
bottom  land.  This  was  the  extent  of  irrigation  throughout  the  vast 
region  it  traversed,  outside  of  Utah,  before  the  Union  Colony  at  Gree- 
ley,  Colo.,  became  the  second  historic  instance  of  the  beginnings  of 
the  present  system,  and  one  which  furnished  a  different  standpoint 
for  a  study  of  the  subject. 

As  Utah  is  the  result  of  a  religious  emigration,  so  Greeley  is  the 
creation  of  the  town  meeting.  Its  founding  marked  the  beginning  of 
a  new  and  different  industrial  development  in  Colorado.  Before  this 
it  was  the  wealth  of  the  mines  or  the  migratory  and  adventurous 
experiences  of  the  range  live-stock  business  which  had  attracted  set- 
tlement. Greeley,  on  the  contrary,  represented  an  effort  of  home- 
making  people,  both  to  enjoy  landed  independence  and  social  and 
intellectual  privileges  equal  to  those  of  the  towns  and  cities  the}7  had 
1  A  99 38 


594    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

left.  Among  its  first  buildings  was  Colony  Hall,  and  among  its  first 
organizations  the  Lyceum,  in  which  all  the  affairs  of  the  community 
were  debated  with  a  fervor  and  fearlessness  quite  worthy  of  Horace 
Greeley's  following.  Cooperation  was  adopted  in  the  construction 
and  management  of  public  utilities,  of  which  the  irrigation  canal  was 
the  first  and  most  important.  The  wisdom  and  justice  of  making 
common  propert}r  of  the  town  site,  the  beauty  and  value  of  which 
could  only  be  created  by  the  enterprise  and  public  spirit  of  all,  was 
recognized  and  put  into  practice  with  satisfactory  results.  The  only 
deliberate  extravagance  was  the  erection  at  an  early  day  of  a  school 
building  worthy  of  the  oldest  and  richest  Xew  England  community. 
The  highest  methods  both  of  irrigation  and  cultivation  were  sought 
out  through  numberless  experiments,  until  Greeley  and  its  potatoes 
grew  famous  together.  The  home  and  civic  institutions  of  the  colony 
became  the  pride  of  the  State,  and  the  hard-won  success  of  the  com- 
munity inspired  numerous  similar  undertakings  and  furnished  an 
impulse  which  resulted  in  the  reclamation  and  settlement  of  northern 
Colorado.  Boulder,  Longmont,  Loveland,  and  Fort  Collins  were  the 
outgrowth  of  success  at  Greeley,  and  each  adopted  many  of  the  ideas 
and  tendencies  of  the  parent  colony. 

Twenty  years  subsequent  to  the  beginning  of  Utah,  and  contempo- 
raneously with  the  settlement  of  Colorado,  similar  influences  began 
to  make  themselves  felt  in  California,  especially  in  its  southern  part. 
Anaheim  is  called  the  mother  colony.  This  was  cooperative  in  its 
inception,  and  its  principal  irrigation  system  has  ever  remained  such. 
Riverside  followed  a  few  years  later  and  represented  a  higher  ideal ; 
but  the  spirit  of  speculation  in  which  California  civilization  was  born 
soon  fastened  itself  upon  irrigation,  as  it  had  done  in  the  case  of  min- 
ing, and  ran  a  mad  race  through  southern  California.  Irrigation  in 
this  State  became  corporate  and  speculative.  Where  Utah  and  Col- 
orado had  depended  only  upon  their  hands  and  teams  for  the  building 
of  irrigation  works,  California  issued  stocks  and  bonds,  and  so  mort- 
gaged its  future.  Men  began  to  dream  of  a  new  race  of  millionaires, 
created  by  making  merchandise  of  the  melting  snows,  by  selling 
"rights"  to  the  "renting"  of  water,  and  collecting  annual  toll  from 
a  new  class  of  society,  to  be  known  as  "water  tenants." 

CORPORATE   CANAL   BUILDING. 

The  investment  of  corporate  capital  in  canals  to  distribute  and 
control  water  used  in  irrigation  began  in  California,  but  spread  like 
a  contagion  throughout  the  West.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  it  has 
been  the  leading  factor  in  promoting  agricultural  growth  of  the  west- 
ern two-fifths  of  the  United  States.  It  has  been  the  agency  through 
which  many  millions  of  dollars  have  been  raised  and  expended, 
hundreds  of  miles  of  canals  constructed,  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  land  reclaimed.  It  has  built  the  largest  overfall  dam  ever 


Yearbook  U    S.   Dept.  of  Agriculture,   1899 


PLATE  LVII. 


FIG.  1.— CANAL  WASTE  GATE  CLOSED 


FIG.  2.— CANAL  WASTE  GATE  OPEN. 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  595 

placed  in  a  large  river.  It  has  been  the  chief  agency  in  replacing 
temporary  wooden  structures  by  massive  headworks  of  steel  and 
masonry,  and  has,  by  the  emplojanent  of  the  highest  engineering 
talent  available  and  the  introduction  of  better  methods  of  construc- 
tion, promoted  the  economy  and  success  with  which  water  is  now 
distributed  and  used.  The  question  which  is  now  to  be  considered  is 
how  the  vast  fabric  created  through  its  agency  is  to  be  directed  and 
controlled  in  order  that  it  may  not  crumble  of  its.  own  weight.  (PI. 
LVIL) 

The  construction  of  irrigation  works  by  corporate  capital  came  as 
a  natural  if  not  inevitable  evolution.  There  came  a  time  in  the  dis- 
tricts first  settled  when  the  opportunities  to  divert  water  cheaply  had 
largely  been  utilized,  and  when  the  expenditure  required  was  beyond 
the  means  of  either  the  individual  or  the  cooperation  of  many  indi- 
viduals. The  preliminary  outlay  was  too  great.  In  older  European 
countries  experience  has  shown  that  no  agency  can  be  so  wisely 
intrusted  with  these  larger  expenditures  as  the  State.  Large  irriga- 
tion canals  have  been  considered  as  being,  in  their  nature,  as  much 
public  improvements  as  are  works  to  supply  water  to  cities  and  towns. 
Being  for  the  service  of  the  public,  those  in  older  European  countries 
have  largely  passed  under  public  ownership. 

In  this  country  corporations  have,  so  far  as  construction  is  con- 
cerned, taken  the  place  of  governmental  agencies  in  other  lands. 
Practically  all  of  the  larger  and  costlier  works  built  within  the  last 
two  decades  have  been  of  this  character.  The  High  Line  Canal,  which 
waters  the  land  surrounding  Denver,  Colo.,  with  its  tunnel  through  the 
mountains  and  its  aqueduct  carried  along  the  rocky  cliffs  below;  the 
canals  of  the  Wyoming  Development  Company,  with  its  tunnel  alone 
costing  more  than  all  the  Greeley  Colony  canals  combined,  and  its 
reservoir  for  storing  the  entire  year's  discharge  of  the  Laramie  River; 
the  Sunnyside  Canal  of  Washington,  which  when  built  traversed  GO 
miles  of  sagebrush  solitude,  are  illustrations  in  three  States  of  the 
nature  of  corporate  contributions  to  irrigation  development.  Even  in 
Utah,  cooperation  was  not  sufficient  to  reclaim  all  of  Salt  Lake- Val- 
ley. 'For  forty  years  the  table-land  north  of  the  lake,  one  of  the 
largest  and  best  tracts  of  irrigable  land  in  the  valley,  remained  unoc- 
cupied, while  the  sons  of  the  pioneers  were  compelled  to  seek  homes 
in  the  surrounding  States.  To  reclaim  this  land,  a  canal  had  to  be 
carried  for  3  miles  along  the  precipitous  sides  of  Bear  River  Canyon. 
The  flow  of  the  river  had  to  be  controlled  by  an  extensive  dam  and 
theMalad  River  twice  bridged  by  long  and  high  aqueducts,  and  the 
million-dollar  outlay  required  was  more  than  home  seekers  could 
provide. 

The  creation  of  water- right  complications  came  with  the  building 
of  corporate  canals.  Previous  to  this  it  had  been  the  rule  for  those 
who  built  ditches  to  own  the  land  they  watered,  and  there  was  little 


596    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

difference  as  to  whether  the  right  to  water  went  with  the  ditch  or  with 
the  land,  because  the  ownership  of  both  was  united  in  the  same  person. 
But  when  companies  were  organized  to  distribute  water  for  others  to 
irrigate  with  and  to  derive  a  revenue  from  water  rentals,  there  arose 
the  question  as  to  who  was  the  owner  of  the  right  to  the  water 
diverted — the  company  transporting  the  water  or  the  farmer  who  used 
it.  The  laws  of  nearly  all  the  Western  States  make  the  ditch  owner 
the  appropriator.  .This  has  created  a  divided  ownership  of  land  and 
water,  and  many  canal  companies  have  framed  water-right  contracts 
on  the  theory  of  absolute  ownership.  These  have  proven  a  source  of 
constant  irritation  to  farmers.  Some  of  these  contracts  require  the 
farmer  to  pay,  at  the  outset,  a  royalty  or  bonus  for  the  "right"  to 
receive  water,  the  charge  for  this  right  varying  from  $5  to  $500  per 
acre,  depending  on  the  scarcity  of  the  water  supply  or  the  value  of 
land  and  its  products.  There  is  a  very  prevalent  feeling  among 
farmers  that  as  they  are  the  actual  "beneficial  users"  of  the  stream, 
they  should  be  considered  the  appf  opriators,  or  at  least  that  the  owner 
of  the  laud  should  share  with  the  owner  of  the  ditch  in  the  right  to 
water. 

OBJECTIONS  TO   CORPORATE   CANALS. 

Having  dealt  with  the  benefits  derived  from  corporate  investments 
in  irrigation  works,  it  is  now  proper  to  point  out  their  defects.  The 
most  serious  one  is'  that  nearly  all  large  canals  have  been  losing  invest- 
ments. The  record  of  these  losses  is  so  stupendous  that  it  is  reluc- 
tantly referred  to.  A  single  enterprise  in  one  of  the  Territories  repre- 
sents to  its  projectors  a  loss  of  over  $2,000,000.  The  Bear  River  Canal, 
in  Utah,  which  cost  over  a  million  dollars,  was  recently  sold  under  a 
judgment  for  about  one-tenth  of  this  sum.  A  single  canal  in  Cali- 
fornia represents  a  loss  to  its  builders  of  over  $800,000.  These  are 
not  isolated  cases.  Similar  instances  might  be  multiplied  indefi- 
nitely. They  are  not  due  to  bad  management,  to  dishonesty,  or  faulty 
engineering.  Some  of  the  worst  failures  in  a  financial  sense  have  been 
handled  by  the  brightest  and  most  experienced  men  in  the  West,  but 
the}T  were  not  able  to  make  their  enterprises  pay,  that  is,  they -have 
not  paid  their  builders.  Nearly  all  have  been  a  success  so  far  as  the 
section  interested  was  concerned,  but  the  benefits  have  gone  to  the 
public  and  not  to  the  investors.  The  reasons  for  this  should  be  more 
generally  understood.  The  following  are  the  most  important: 

(1)  The  necessarily  long  delay  in  securing  settlers  for  the  land  to 
be  irrigated  and  in  obtaining  paying  customers  for  the  water  to  be 
furnished. 

(2)  The  large  outlay  and  several  37ears  of  unprofitable  labor  required, 
as  a  rule,  to  put  wild  land  in  condition  for  cultivation.     Settlers  of 
limited  means  can  not  meet  this  outlay  and  in  addition  pay  water 
rentals.     Nearly  all  of  the  settlers  on  arid  public  land  are  men  of 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  597 

limited  means;  hence,  canal  companies  have  at  the  outset  to  furnish 
water  at  small  cost,  or  furnish  to  a  small  number  of  consumers. 

(3)  The  unsuitability  of  the.  public-land  laws  to  irrigation  develop- 
ment. 

(4)  The  acquirement  of  the  lands  to  be  reclaimed,  in  many  instances, 
before  canals  are  completed  by  nonresident  or  speculative  holders,  who 
would  do  nothing  for  their  improvement. 

(o)  Expenses  of  litigation.  Experience  has  shown  that  in  the  esti- 
mates of  cost  of  a  large  canal  provision  should  be  made  for  a  large 
and  long-continued  outlay  for  litigation.  It  begins  with  the  adjudi- 
cation of  the  stream  and  is  protracted  through  the  controversies  over 
water  rights. 

WATER-RIGHT   PROBLEMS   OF   THE   ARID   REGIONS. 

After  this  brief  sketch  of  the  beginnings  of  American  irrigation, 
some  of  the  lessons  of  which  will  be  considered  at  a  later  point  in  this 
article,  we  may  appropriately  turn  to  the  great  arid  region  as  a  whole 
and  the  complex  legal,  economic,  and  social  problems  with  which  its 
agriculture  will  vex  the  future. 

Mount  Union  (PI.  LVI,  fig.  2)  rises  in  solemn  grandeur  in  the  Wind 
River  Mountains  of  Wyoming  south  of  Yellowstone  Park.  From  this 
peak  flow  three  streams,  which,  with  their  tributaries,  control  the 
industrial  future  of  a  region  greater  than  any  European  country  save 
Russia,  and  capable  of  supporting  a  larger  population  than  now  dwells 
east  of  the  "Mississippi  River.  These  streams  are  the  Missouri,  the 
Columbia,  and  the  Colorado.  The  first  waters  the  mountain  valleys 
on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rockies  and  the  semiarid  region  of  the 
Great  Plains;  the  second,  the  Pacific  northwest,  including  part  of 
Montana,  all  of  Idaho,  and  the  major  portions  of  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington; the  third,  the  Southwest,  embracing  much  of  Utah  and  west- 
ern Colorado,  parts  of  New  Mexico  and  California,  and  all  of  Arizona. 

In  this  vast  district,  when  reclaimed,  homes  may  be  made  for  many 
millions  of  people.  To  effect  this  result  is  a  task  inferior  to  no  other 
in  the  realm  of  statesmanship  or  social  economics.  It  is  the  nation's 
farm.  It  contains  practically  all  that  is  left  of  the  public  domain, 
and  is  the  chief  hope  of  a  free  home  for  those  who  dream  of  enjoying 
landed  independence,  but  who  have  but  little  besides  industry  and 
self-denial  with  which  to  secure  it.  As  it  is  now,  this  land  has  but 
little  value.  In  many  places  a  township  would  not  support  a  settler 
and  his  family,  and  a  section  of  land  does  not  yield  enough  to  keep  a 
light-footed  and  laborious  sheep  from  starving  to  death.  This  is  not 
because  the  land  lacks  fertility,  but  because  it  lacks  moisture.  Where 
rivers  have  been  turned  from  their  course,  the  products  which  have 
resulted  equal  in  excellence  and  amount  those  of  the  most  favored 
district  of  ample  rainfall. 


598    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

There  are  only  6,000,000  acres  of  cultivated  land  along  the  Nile.  It 
is  all  irrigated.  Where  there  is  no  irrigation  there  is  desert.  This 
little  patch  of  ground  has  made  Eg}7pt  a  landmark  in  the  world's  his- 
tory. It  supports  over  5,000,000  people  and  pays  the  interest  on  a 
national  debt  half  as  large  as  our  own.  The  Missouri  and  its  tribu- 
taries can  be  made  to  irrigate  three  times  the  land  now  cultivated 
along  the  Nile. 

The  essence  of  the  problem  to  be  met  at  the  outset  is  the  control 
and  distribution  of  the  water  supply,  since  not  only  the  enduring 
prosperity  but  the  very  existence  of  the  homes  created  will  be  con- 
ditioned upon  the  ability  to  use  these  rivers  for  irrigation.  The 
diverse  interest  of  individuals  and  communities,  and  even  of  different 
States,  will  all  be  dependent  on  streams  flowing  from  a  common 
source.  To  reclaim  all  the  land  possible  will  involve  the  spreading  of 
water  over  a  surface  as  large  as  New  England  with  New  York  added. 
Standing  now  at  the  birth  of  things  and  looking  down  the  vista  of 
the  future,  we  can  see  in  the  course  of  these  rivers  the  dim  outline  of 
a  mighty  civilization,  blest  with  peace  and  crowned  with  a  remarkable 
degree  of  prosperity,  in  case  wise  laws  and  just  policies  shall  prevail 
in  the  }7ears  of  the  immediate  future  while  institutions  are  forming. 
But  if  it  be  otherwise,  if  greed  and  ignorance  are  allowed  to  govern, 
and  we  ignore  the  experience  of  older  countries  than  ours,  there  will 
remain  to  us  only  a  gloomy  forecast  of  legal,  economic,  and,  possibly, 
even  civil  strife. 

THE  APPEARANCE  AND  RESOURCES  OF  THE  ARID  REGION. 

In  discussing  this  phase  of  the  subject,  let  us  follow  the  Missouri, 
Columbia,  and  Colorado  rivers  in  their  lonesome  courses  through 
mountains,  plain,  and  desert  to  the  place  where  one  joins  the  Missis- 
sippi, where  another  mingles  its  waters  with  the  Pacific,  and  Avhere  a 
third  flows  into  the  Gulf  of  California.  For  it  is  not  only  interesting 
but  important  to  see  in  the  midst  of  what  surroundings  so  large  a 
future  population  must  dwell,  and  upon  what  other  resources  than 
water  and  land  it  will  rear  its  economic  edifice. 

The  climate  of  the  western  half  of  the  United  States  takes  its  chief 
characteristic  from  its  aridity,  or  dryness.  The  heat  of  its  Southern 
summers  and  the  cold  of  its  Northern  winters  are  alike  tempered  and 
mitigated  by  lack  of  humidity.  Neither  the  humid  heat  which  pros- 
trates nor  the  humid  cold  which  penetrates  to  the  marrow  is  known 
in  the  arid  region.  The  Western  mountains  and  valleys  are  a  recog- 
nized natural  sanitarium  where  thousands  of  invalids  are  sent  each 
year  by  physicians  to  regain  their  health. 

The  dominant  feature  in  the  physical  appearance  of  the  arid  regions 
is  its  mountain  topography.  On  every  hand  a  rugged  horizon  meets 
the  view.  From  North  to  South,  from  Canada  to  Mexico,  the  Rocky 
Mountain  Range  makes  the  backbone  of  the  continent.  Along  the 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF   IRRIGATION.  599 

Pacific  coast  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  ranges  lift  their  barriers 
to  intercept  the  moisture  and  condense  it  into  snow.  Between  these 
two  principal  chains,  with  their  connecting  ranges  and  outlying  spurs, 
are  many  minor  systems,  so  that  the  whole  country  is  a  succession  of 
mountains  and  valleys,  of  forests  and  deserts,  of  raging  .torrents  and 
sinuous  rivers  winding  to  their  sinks  upon  the  plains  or  making  their 
difficult  way  to  the  distant  ocean.  The  far  West  is  thus  a  land  of  the 
greatest  scenic  beauties,  and  widely  celebrated  as  such. 

The  cultivable  lands  lie  in  the  valleys,  rising  with  gradual  slope  on 
either  side  of  the  streams  to  meet  the  foothills.  Narrowing  to  the 
mountains,  these  vallej^s  widen  as  the  river  loses  grade  and  approaches 
the  sea  or  its  confluence  with  a  larger  stream.  There  are  valleys 
which  will  accommodate  hundreds,  others,  thousands  or  tens  of  thou- 
sands, and  a  few,  like  the  Sacramento,  in  California,  where  millions 
may  dwell. 

In  the  eastern  portion  of  the  arid  region,  and  in  high  altitudes 
farther  west,  the  land  is  covered  with  nutritious  natural  grasses,  which 
furnish  ideal  range  for  live  stock.  But  the  characteristic  badge  of 
the  region  is  the  sagebrush.  This  brave  plant  of  the  desert  is  com- 
monly held  in  derision  by  those  who  behold  it  for  the.  first  time,  and 
until  they  learn  to  know  it  as  the  shelter  and  dependence  of  range 
live  stock  when  the  terrible  blizzard  sweeps  from  the  north  and  as  the 
sure  indication  of  good  soil  and  the  humble  prophet  of  the  field, 
orchard,  and  garden.  Thus,  it  happens  that  to  the  casual  traveler 
the  appearance  of  the  region  is  forbidding.  It  is  only  in  localities 
where  the  work  of  reclamation  has  been  in  progress  long  enough  to 
permit  the  growth  of  trees,  with  farms  and  homes,  that  the  value  of 
the  soil  and  climate  can  be  appreciated.  There  are  such  instances  in 
all  the  seventeen  States  and  Territories  of  the  far  West.  One  of  the 
most  striking  is  the  Salt  River  Valley  of  Arizona.  Here  the  traveler, 
after  a  long  and  tiresome  journey  through  waste  places,  finds  himself 
suddenly  confronted  with  homes  rivaling  in  taste  and  luxury  those  of 
Eastern  States,  and  with  orchards  and  gardens  which  resemble  more 
the  century-old  gardens  of  France  and  Italy  than  a  creation  of  the 
last  twenty  years. 

Similar  instances  are  the  San  Bernardino  Valley  of  southern  Cali- 
fornia, the  Salt  Lake  Valley  of  Utah,  and  the  Boise  Valley  of  Idaho. 

MINERAL   WEALTH    OF   T£E   ARID   REGION, 

Another  fact  which  contributes  to  the  breadth  of  the  economic 
foundation  of  Western  agriculture  is  the  variety  and  value  of  its  min- 
eral wealth.  In  this  it  is  richly  endowed;  not  only  with  the  precious 
metals,  but  with  the  baser  ones  used  in  arts  and  industries,  and  with 
unusual  quantities  of  coal,  ore,  and  building  stone,  the  latter  of  which 
includes  many  rare  and  valuable  kinds,  such  as  marble,  onyx,  and 
agate. 


600         YEARBOOK    OP    THE    DEPARTMENT    OF    AGRICULTURE. 

While  the  annual  value  of  these  products  runs  into  the  tens  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  it  is  literally  true  that  their  development  is  yet  in  its 
infancy.  With  the  extension  of  railroad  facilities,  the  improvement 
and  cheapening  of  mining  processes,  the  extension  of  agriculture,  and 
consequent  increase  in  the  volume  and  decrease  in  the  cost  of  the  home 
food  supply,  the  gain  in  annual  production  will  assume  in  the  future 
dimensions  which  would  now  be  considered  beyond  belief. 

SOURCES   OF   FUTURE   PERMANENT    PROSPERITY   IN   THE   ARID   REGION. 

To  the  mines  must  be  added  the  forests  which  clothe  the  mountain 
sides,  especially  those  of  the  northern  part  of  this  region.  To  a  large 
extent  this  is  still  virgin  ground,  where  only  the  foot  of  the  hunter 
and  explorer  has  trodden.  It  is  a  region  unrivaled  in  its  opportuni- 
ties for  the  development  of  water  power.  The  Shoshone  Falls  in  Idaho 
are  scarcely  inferior  to  those  of  Niagara.  The  hundreds  of  streams 
which  fall  from  the  10,000-foot  level  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Range  to 
the  4,000-foot  to  5,000-foot  level  of  the  plain  at  their  base  are  destined 
to  turn  more  wheels  of  industry  than  have  yet  been  harnessed  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River.  Back  of  the  irrigated  lands  are  the  grazing 
lands,  of  which  there  are  probably  not  less  than  400,000,000  acres. 
These  lands  have  been  the  dominant  factor  of  the  pioneer  life  of  many 
of  the  arid  Commonwealths,  and  they  are  destined,  under  proper  man- 
agement, to  always  constitute  the  great  nursery  of  cattle,  sheep,  and 
horses.  The  irrigated  farm  has  back  of  it  the  mine,  the  furnace, 
and  factory,  and  the  civilization  of  Western  America  can  not  fail 
to  have  a  prosperous  and  varied  industrial  life.  Here  there  can 
be  no  one-sided  development,  no  community  exclusively  devoted  to 
the  production  of  corn,  wheat,  or  cotton,  to  manufactures,  or  to  com- 
merce. The  farm,  the  stock  ranch,  the  lumber  camp,  the  mine,  the 
factory,  and  the  store  are  destined  to  grow  up  and  flourish  side  by 
side,  each  drawing  support  from  and  furnishing  sustenance  to  the 
others. 

PRESENT  AND   FUTURE   OF  IRRIGATION. 

The  present  situation,  the  results  secured,  and  the  tasks  ahead  in 
securing  a  wise  disposal  of  the  arid  lands  and  in  preventing  the  rivers 
from  becoming  an  instrument  of  monopoly  and  extortion,  will  now  be 
considered. 

We  are  met  at  the  outset  by  an  entire  absence  of  definite  informa- 
tion. We  do  not  know,  nor  is  there  any  ready  means  of  determining, 
how  many  irrigation  works  have  been  built.  In  many  States  no  pro- 
vision is  made  for  their  record.  In  only  two  States  is  this  record 
even  measurably  accurate  or  complete.  There  may  be  75,000  com- 
pleted ditches,  or  there  may  be  double  the  number,  but  either  as  to 
their  number  or  as  to  the  number  of  acres  of  land  reclaimed  thereby 
there  is  only  surmise  and  conjecture.  This,  however,  is  known,  that 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  601 

the  highest  priced  and  most  productive  farm  lands  on  this  continent 
are  in  the  arid  region;  that  the  largest  yield  of  nearly  every  staple 
crop  has  been  obtained  by  the  aid  of  irrigation;  that  not  only  has  the 
growth  of  agriculture  furnished  a  market  for  the  factories  of  the 
East  and  supported  the  railroads  which  unite  the  two  extremes  of 
the  country,  but  it  is  the  chief  resource  of  nearly  every  one  of  the 
arid  States.  Colorado  leads  all  the  States  of  the  Union  in  her  output 
of  precious  metals,  but  the  value  of  the  product  of  her  farms  is  nearly 
double  that  of  her  mines.  • 

In  California  it  is  the  grain  fields  and  orange  orchards  which  sup- 
port the  majority  of  her  industrial  population  and  furnish  the  basis 
for  her  future  material  growth  and  prosperity.  The  beginnings  of 
Utah  were  wholty  agricultural,  and  without  the  irrigated  farms  the 
cities  of  that  interior  Commonwealth  would  as  yet  be  only  a  dream. 
In  a  less  striking  degree  the  same  condition  prevails  in  Idaho,  Wyo- 
ming, Montana,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona.  This  is  the  situation, 
while  irrigation  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy.  The  reclaimed  areas,  though 
making  a  large  aggregate,  look  very  insignificant  relatively  to  the  rest 
of  the  country  when  delineated  upon  a  map  of  the  arid  region.  The 
possibilities  of  reclamation  have  but  begun  to  be  realized,  yet  when 
every  available  drop  of  water  shall  have  been  applied  to  the  soil  the 
irrigated  lands  will  constitute  a  comparatively  small  proportion  of  the 
entire  country.  The  possibilities  of  irrigation  are,  however,  to  be 
measured  not  alone  by  the  possible  extent  of  the  agricultural  industry, 
but  by  the  development  of  other  resources  which  it  will  make  feasible. 
The  best  and  largest  use  of  the  grazing  lands,  the  utilization  of  the 
forests,  the  development  of  mines  and  quarries,  and  the  maintenance 
of  railroads  and  commerce  in  the  western  half  of  the  United  States, 
all  hinge  upon  the  control  and  use  of  streams  in  connection  with  the 
fundamental  industry  of  agriculture.  Since  irrigation  is  essential  to 
agriculture  in  the  arid  States,  the  extent  and  character  of  its  develop- 
ment must  surely  measure  the  superstructure  to  be  built  upon  that 
foundation. 

GROWTH   OF   IRRIGATION   AND  NEED   OF   BETTER   LAWS. 

Some  of  the  beginnings  of  irrigation  have  been  referred  to.  The 
details  of  its  growth  can  not  be  dealt  with.  It  has  been  crude  in 
many  ways.  There  has  been  no  attempt  to  provide  for  the  diversion 
of  rivers  according  to  some  prearranged  plan  having  for  its  object  the 
selection  of  the  best  land  and  the  largest  use  of  the  water  supply. 
Instead,  each  appropriator  of  water  has  consulted  simply  his  ability 
and  inclination  in  the  location  of  his  head  gate.  There  has  been  an 
almost  complete  failure  to  realize  that  the  time  was  coming  when  on 
many  streams  the  demand  would  exceed  the  supply,  and  that  a  stable 
water  right  would  be  as  important  as  a  valid  land  title.  The  laws 
passed  for  recording  claims  are,  as  a  rule,  so  loosely  drawn  and 


602    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

imperfect  that  they  would  be  a  source  of  amusement  if  the  evil  results 
of  their  operation  were  not  so  disastrous.  More  than  half  of  the  State 
laws  provide  for  inaugurating  a  title  to  water  by  posting  a  notice  on 
the  banks  of  the  stream.  They  have  not  aided  the  proposed  appro- 
priator,  because  the  right  to  post  other  appropriations  was  unre- 
stricted. They  are  of  no  use  as  a  warning  to  others,  because  not  one 
in  ten  thousand  of  the  parties  concerned  ever  see  them.  A  search 
for  these  notices  along  the  cottonwood  borders  of  the  Missouri  and  its 
tributaries  would  be  the  unending  labor  of  a  lifetime;  hence,  the 
requirement  was  and  is  ignored ;  it  is  another  of  the  many  influences 
tending  to  unsettle  irrigators'  just  rights  and  bringing  the  attempts  to 
frame  laws  for  their  protection  into  disrepute. 

Looking  over  the  field  at  the  close  of  the  century,  we  find  that  the 
United  States  stands  practically  alone  among  irrigation  countries  in 
having  left  all  the  work  of  reclamation  to  the  unaided  efforts  of 
private  capital,  and  in  the  prodigality  of  the  surrender  of  public  con- 
trol of  streams.  In  one  respect  the  policy  pursued  has  been  suc- 
cessful. It  has  resulted  in  an  enormous  investment  (not  less  than 
$100,000,000,  and  some  estimates  make  it  twice  that  sum)  and  the  crea- 
tion of  taxable  and  productive  wealth  of  many  times  the  amount 
invested.  We  have  now  about  reached  the  limit  of  this  sort  of  growth. 
There  will  be  few  large  private  investments  in  canals  hereafter  until 
we  have  better  and  more  liberal  irrigation  laws.  Entrance  on  the 
coming  century  is 'confronted  by  larger  problems;  the  storage  of  flood 
waters,  the  interstate  division  of  streams,  and  the  inauguration  of  an 
adequate  system  of  public  control,  which  will  insure  to  the  humblest 
handler  of  a  shovel  his  share  of  the  snows  falling  on  mountains  above 
his  farm,  no  matter  how  far  removed  therefrom  he  may  be. 

NEED   OF  REFORM   IN  THE  MANAGEMENT   OF  ARID   PUBLIC  LAND. 

Along  with  better  water  laws  should  come  a  corresponding  reform 
in  the  management  of  the  remaining  arid  public  land.  At  the  outset 
of  its  settlement  these  problems  were  entirely  new  to  English-speaking 
men. 

Early  settlers  came  from  the  humid  portions  of  Europe  and  settled 
along  the  humid  coast  line  of  the  Atlantic  and,  later,  in  the  humid 
valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers.  The  land  laws  which  they 
applied  to  the  public  domain  of  their  day  produced  excellent  results, 
making  homes  for  millions  of  people  and  effecting  a  wonderful  devel- 
opment of  material  resources. 

When  settlement  had  proceeded  under  these  laws  to  the  Missouri 
River  and  beyond,  it  was  not  strange  that  their  principles  were 
extended  to  the  remaining  public  domain,  for  the  vast  majority  of  the 
American  people  had  no  conception  whatever  of  the  conditions  exist- 
ing in  the  far  West.  Not  only  the  national  lawmakers,  drawn  mostly 
from  regions  of  abundant  rainfall,  but  the  legislators  in  the  arid  States 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  603 

themselves  were  blind  to  the  necessities  of  the  situation.  .  The  value 
of  gold  they  knew,  but  the  value  of  that  other  element  of  national 
wealth,  which  will  continue  to  sustain  vast  populations  long  after  the 
last  ounce  of  gold  shall  have  been  taken  from  the  mine,  they  did  not 
even  dimly  appreciate.  So,  to  a  large  extent,  they  merely  reenacted 
upon  their  statute  books  the  common  law  of  rainy  and  foggy  England. 

HOMESTEAD   LAW   NOT   ADAPTED   TO   THE   ARID   REGION. 

The  homestead  law  may  have  served  a  useful,  even  a  beneficent, 
purpose  throughout  large  sections  of  the  Republic,  but  it  is  not  adapted 
to  the  settlement  of  a  region  where  practically  nothing  can  be  grown 
except  by  artificial  application  of  water.  This  fact  has  been  learned 
at  last  through  many  years  of  hardship  and  disappointment,  at  the 
cost  of  many  million  dollars.  One  of  the  most  pitiful  pages  in  the 
history  of  the  West  is  that  which  records  the  story  of  the  settlement 
of  the  semiarid  belt  lying  between  the  ninety-seventh  meridian  and 
the  foothills  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This  is  a  territory  500  miles 
wide,  extending  from  Canada  to  Mexico,  including  the  western  por- 
tions of  the  two  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  Texas,  and  also 
eastern  Colorado.  In  the  absence  of  scientific  demonstration  to  the 
contrary,  tens  of  thousands  of  people  rushed  into  this  territory  under 
the  delusion  that  it  was  a  land  of  reliable  rainfall,  or  would  soon 
become  such  as  the  result  of  settlement  and  cultivation. 

New  settlements  sprung  up  in  every  direction,  and  important  towns 
arose  almost  in  a  night.  Men  hastened  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
to  claim  their  rights  under  the  homestead  law.  Remembering  the 
prosperity  which  similar  armies  of  settlers  had  wrung  from  the  virgin 
soil  of  the  West,  unlimited  capital  lent  willing  support  to  this  new 
outward  surge  of  growing  population.  The  capital  was  largely  lost, 
but  the  pathetic  side,  of  the  picture  was  seen  in  the  bitter  disappoint- 
ment of  the  settlers  themselves.  Many  of  them  wasted  the  most  use- 
ful and  pregnant  years  of  their  lives  in  their  brave  persistence  in  the 
belief  that  the  climate  would  change  as  the  land  came  under  cultiva- 
tion, and  that  there  was  some  magic  potency  in  the  homestead  law  to 
overcome  the  processes  of  nature.  It  is  recognized  at  last  that  where 
water  sufficient  for  purposes  of  irrigation  can  not  be  had  the  land  is 
useful  only  for  grazing.  It  is  a  mistake  for  the  Government  to  offer 
to  citizens  land  of  that  character  on  condition  that  they  will  settle 
upon  160  acres  of  it  and  make  a  living.  There  can  be  but  one  of  two 
results — either  the  settler  must  fail  or  he  must  become  practically  the 
tenant  of  the  person  or  corporation  furnishing  water  for  his  dry  land. 

OPERATIONS   OF   THE   DESERT-LAND   LAW. 

The  desert- land  law  was  devised  to  promote  the  investment  of  cap- 
ital rather  than  to  encourage  settlement.  For  this  reason  it  did  not 
require  actual  residence  on  the  land  reclaimed.  Originally,  whoever 


604    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

would  irrigate  040  acres  of  land  was  given  title  thereto  on  the  pay- 
ment of  the  Government's  price.  Later  this  acreage  has  been  reduced 
to  one-half  the  original  area.  The  operation  of  this  law  has  been 
both  useful  and  injurious.  To  give  so  large  an  area  to  men  of  small 
means  is  a  mistake,  because  it  is  more  than  is  needed  to  make  a  home 
and  more  than  they  can  cultivate.  It  is  not  suited  to  corporate  enter- 
prise, or  to  reclaim  large  valleys  which  can  be  watered  from  a  single 
canal,  because  it  makes  no  provision %f or  concerted  or  effective  man- 
agement of  the  entire  area.  Its  field  of  effective  usefulness  has 
therefore  been  limited.  While  it  has  added  somewhat  to  the  taxable 
and  productive  wealth  of  Western  States,  it  has  also  operated  to  trans- 
fer to  single  owners  miles  of  water  fronts  which  without  this  law 
would  have  been  divided  up  into  smaller  farms  with  better  social  and 
agricultural  conditions. 

THE   CAREY   ACT. 

W^hat  is  popularly  known  as  the  Carey  Act,  from  the  name  of  its 
author,  Senator  Carey,  gives  to  each  State  the  right  to  segregate 
1,000,000  acres  of  land  and  to  control  both  its  reclamation  and  dis- 
posal to  settlers.  The  limitations  of  the  operations  of  this  act  confine 
its  benefits  simply  to  the  opportunity  to  secure  better  management 
during  the  time  of  canal  building  and  settlement.  Five  States  have 
accepted  the  trust,  but  in  only  one,  Wyoming,  have  any  canals  been 
completed.  These  canals  have  been  built  by  companies  operating 
under  a  contract  with  the  State.  In  Montana  it  is  proposed  to  con- 
struct State  canals  from  money  obtained  by  selling  bonds  secured  by 
the  land  to  be  irrigated.  Enough  progress  has  not  as  yet  been  made 
to  determine  whether  or  not  this  innovation  on  past  irrigation  meth- 
ods is  to  meet  with  success;  if  it  does,  the  third  step  in  the  evolution 
of  canal  building,  which  is  the  construction  of  State  works,  will  have 
been  inaugurated. 

INFLUENCE   OF   THE   RANGE   INDUSTRIES. 

To  a  certain  extent  there  is  an  inevitable  conflict  between  those 
who  wish  to  use  the  public  domain  for  homes  and  those  who  prefer  to 
have  it  reserved  for  pasture,  and,  again,  between  those  who  wish  to 
use  the  pasture  for  cattle  and  those  who  want  it  for  sheep. 

The  range  industries  obtained  possession  of  the  field  long  before 
the  higher  utility  of  the  lands  for  irrigation  and  settlement  was  gen- 
erally appreciated.  When  irrigators  did  come,  they  worked  more  or 
less  injury  to  the  range  stockmen,  for  each  settler  occupied  a  part  of 
the  water  front  and  added  to  the  number  desiring  to  use  the  free 
grazing  land.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  the  range-stock  industry  that 
access  to  streams  be  made  as  free  as  possible  and  that  nothing  be 
done  to  reduce  their  volume  or  prevent  the  overflow  of  natural  mead- 
ows, while  the  higher  interest  of  irrigation  and  settlement  demands 
that  the  stream  be  diverted  and  its  waters  distributed  over  the  widest 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  605 

possible  area.  The  conflict  is  between  the  wasteful  use  of  water  on 
the  one  hand  and  its  economical  use  on  the  other,  and,  in  a  sense, 
between  a  primitive  and  a  more  highly  organized  civilization. 

This  statement  should  not  be  construed  as  denying  that  the  range- 
stock  industry  is  of  vast  importance  nor  that  it  will  continue  to  be  a 
great  source  of  wealth  to  the  country.  Throughout  the  West  there 
are  very  large  areas  suited  to  nothing  else.  The  point  is  that  the 
higher  interest  of  society  lies  in  the  most  economical  and  profitable 
use  of  water  to  the  end  that  homes  may  be  made  for  the  largest  pos- 
sible number.  Neither  water  nor  land  laws  have  favored  this  result, 
but  precisely  the  contrary.  The  object  of  reform  should  be  to  pre- 
serve and  develop  all  interests,  to  adapt  laws  and  institutions  to  the 
peculiar  conditions  and  environment  of  the  region.  This  can  be 
done  with  far  greater  security  to  the  pastoral  industries  than  they 
enjoy  under  the  present  system,  and  at  the  same  time  land  and  water 
available  for  making  homes  and  farms  utilized  to  the  best  advantage. 

UNCERTAINTY   AS    TO   STATE   AND   FEDERAL   JURISDICTION. 

,  The  pioneers  of  irrigation  are  menaced  by  the  uncertainty  which 
exists  as  to  the  limits  of  State  and  federal  jurisdiction  in  the  control 
of  streams.  It  has  heretofore  been  assumed  that  the  authority  of 
each  State  within  its  borders  Avas  unquestioned,  and  two  of  the  States 
contain  constitutional  provisions  asserting  absolute  ownership  and 
control  of  all  the  waters  within  their  bounds.  A  recent  decision  of 
the  United  States  circuit  court  in  Montana  holds  this  view  to  be  erro- 
neous, and  that  the  snows  Avhich  fall  on  public  land  and  the  streams 
which  cross  it  are  Jboth  under  the  control  of  Congress.  A  similar 
complication  has  arisen  in  litigation  over  a  reservoir  on  the  Rio  Grande, 
in  which  both  interstate  and  international  rights  are  involved.  In 
this  case  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  has  asserted  the  right  of 
the  General  Government  to  protect  the  interests  of  navigation  regard- 
less of  State  statutes  respecting  the  use  of  water  in  irrigation.  The 
assertion  of  the  paramount  importance  of  riparian  rights  and  of  the 
protection  of  navigation,  regardless  of  the  use  of  water  in  irrigation, 
will  add  greatly  to  the  uncertainty  regarding  water  rights  from  the 
tributaries  of  the  Missouri  or  any  other  of  the  rivers  navigable  in  any 
portion  of  their  course.  The  reclamation  of  the  arid  region  involves 
the  absorption  of  streams,  and  it  can  not  be  settled  too  soon  whether 
or  not  such  absorption  is  to  be  permitted. 

COMPLICATIONS   FROM    LACK   OF  UNIFORM   WATER   LAWS. 

.  On  the  other  hand,  serious  complications  have  arisen  from  the  absence 
of  any  general  or  national  regulations  governing  the  division  of  water 
across  State  lines.  There  are  many  instances  where  one  stream  is  a 
common  source  of  supply  to  irrigators  in  two  or  more  States.  It  has 
sometimes  happened  that  the  perennial  flow  of  such  streams  has  been 


GOG    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

first  appropriated  in  a  State  along  its  lower  course  and  utilized  at  a 
later  period  by  other  States  near  its  source.  Neither  of  the  States 
concerned  possesses  power  to  remedy  the  evil,  and  each  makes  claim 
to  all  the  water  flowing  upon  its  soil. 

The  conditions  which  govern  irrigation  throughout  much  of  the 
arid  region  are  practically  uniform,  and  where  this  is  true  there  is  no 
question  that-  a  uniform  irrigation  law  would  operate  with  equal  jus- 
tice and  efficiency;  but,  owing  to  the  absence  of  such  general  super- 
vision, water  rights  in  States  adjacent  to  each  other  are  often  as 
different  in  character  as  if  these  Commonwealths  were  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  globe.  Failure  to  correct  or  regard  these  complications 
aggravates  the  evils  to  which  they  give  rise  and  renders  the  ultimate 
adoption  of  a  uniform  system  of  laws  far  more  difficult.  There  is  but 
one  thing  the  States  have  shared  in  common,  and  that  is  endless  liti- 
gation over  water  rights.  There  is  no  uniformity  of  laws  or  decisions. 
The  same  issues  are  tried  over  and  over  again,  and  the  precedent 
established  in  one  case  is  overturned  in  another.  The  construction 
of  costly  works,  and  even  the  long  use  of  water,  has  not  alwaj^s  been 
sufficient  to  secure  parties  in  their  rights.  Where  rights  have  been 
successfully  maintained,  it  has  been  done  only  at  the  price  of  constant 
lawsuits. 

Usually  the  amount  of  water  claimed  is  many  times  in  excess  of 
what  the  projected  canal  can  utilize;  frequently  in  excess  of  the  entire 
volume  of  water  in  the  stream.  There  is  no  one  to  protect  the  public 
interest  as  to  the  character  of  works  to  be  built  or  to  say  whether 
they  conform  to  good  public  policy.  The  courts  confirm  these  loose 
appropriations,  and  the  foundation  for  endless  litigation  is  thus 
securely  laid.  The  question  soon  arises  as  to  who  first  appropriated 
the  waters  which  do  not  suffice  for  all.  There  is  then  nothing  to  fall 
back  upon  except  the  faulty  filings  which  were  originally  posted  on 
the  banks  of  the  stream  and  the  testimony  of  interested  citizens.  It 
frequently  happens  that  old  claims  for  very  large  amounts  of  water 
have  not  been  utilized  to  their  full  extent  until  later  comers  have 
appropriated  the  unused  surplus.  The  old  claim  is  then  enforced  at 
the  expense  of  the  later  one.  The  result  is  confusion,  loss,  and  bit- 
terness among  neighbors. 

The  difficulty  lies,  first  of  aU,  in  popular  misconception  regarding 
the  nature  of  water  rights  and  of  property  in  water.  This  is  enhanced 
by  lack  of  scientific  information  concerning  the  character  and  extent 
of  water  supplies  and  of  the  amount  required  for  beneficial  irrigation. 
Still  further,  there  is  a  great  need  for  a  different  system  of  appropri- 
ating waters  and  of  distributing  a  common  supply  among  consumers. 
These  delicate  and  complex  issues  can  not  be  fought  out  among  pri- 
vate parties  without  producing  a  condition  of  virtual  anarchy,  in  which 
the  weak  must  go  down  and  the  strong  survive,  regardless  of  their 
merits  or  necessities.  The  failure  of  the  irrigation  industry  from  the 


RISE   AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  607 

financial  standpoint  is  almost  wholly  due  to  the  illogical  land  and 
water  laws  which  have  been  described. 

METHODS  AND  MEASURES  NEEDED  TO  DEVELOP  THE  ARID  REGION. 

It  is  well  to  consider  now  by  what  methods  and  by  what  measures 
of  legislation  the  splendid  resources  of  the  arid  region  may  be  opened 
to  development. 

The  first  step  is  to  determine  the  proper  control  and  just  distribu- 
tion of  the  water  supply.  The  problem  varies  with  different  portions 
of  the  arid  region.  In  the  South,  streams  are  generally  torrential  in 
character,  furnishing  the  bulk  of  their  waters  in  heavy  floods,  which 
must  be  stored  in  the  many  natural  sites  available  in  the  mountains 
at  a  distance  from  the  places  where  the  water  is  to  be  applied  to  the 
soil.  In  the  North,  on  the  other  hand,  the  problem  is  not  that  of 
storage,  but  of  the  diversion  of  great  rivers  like  the  Yellowstone,  the 
Snake,  the  Columbia,  and  the  Missouri.  Here  works  adequate  to  the 
reclamation  of  the  areas  of  arid  land  which  remain  can  only  be  built 
at  great  cost,  rivaling  those  along  the  Ganges  and  the  Nile. 

Before  such  development  proceeds  further  it  is  desirable  that  some 
common  agreement  should  be  reached  concerning  the  true  character 
of  water  rights.  The  idea  of  private  ownership  in  water  apart  from 
the  land  can  not  prevail  without  creating  institutions  essentially  feudal 
in  character.  A  water  lord  is  even  more  undesirable  than  a  landlord 
as  the  dominant  element  in  society.  It  is  indisputable,  as  has  already 
been  said,  that  the  man  who  owns  the  wa$er  practically  owns  the  land. 
A  proposition  which  contemplates  the  turning  over  of  all  the  land  to  a 
private  monopoly,  thus  making  a  tenantry  of  those  who  may  have  their 
homes  upon  it  in  the  future,  could  not  hope  to  command  popular  sup- 
port. But  the  idea  of  a  private  ownership  of  water,  amounting  to  a 
virtual  monopoly  of  this  vital  element,  has  been  permitted  to  grow 
up  in  the  West.  To  a  certain  extent  it  has  obtained  recognition  in 
legislation  and  protection  in  judicial  decrees  and  decisions.  In  other 
countries  the  doctrine  has  largely  disappeared,  and  in  our  country  it 
should  give  place  to  a  more  enlightened  conception,  and  to  the  only 
principle  that  can  safely  be  adopted  as  the  foundation  of  the  agricul- 
tural industry  in  the  West. 

The  right  to  water  which  should  be  recognized  in  an  arid  land  is  the 
right  of  use,  and  even  this  must  be  restricted  to  beneficial  and  eco- 
nomical use  in  order  that  the  water  supply  may  serve  the  needs  of  the 
largest  possible  number.  Ownership  of  water  should  be  vested,  not 
in  companies  or  individuals,  but  in  the  land  itself.  When  this  prin- 
ciple is  adopted,  the  control  of  the  water  is  divided  precisely  like  the 
land,  among  a  multitude  of  proprietors.  Reservoirs  and  canals  are 
then  like  the  streets  of  the  town,  serving  a  public  purpose  and  per- 
mitting ready  access  to  private  property  on  every  hand.  Water 
monopoly  is  impossible  under  this  method,  and  no  other  abuse  is 


608    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

encouraged  by  it.  Years  of  painful  experience  have  abundantly 
proven  that  peaceful  and  orderly  development  can  not  be  realized 
except  as  water  and  land  are  forever  united  in  on^  ownership  and 
canals  treated  merel}7  as  public  or  semipublic  utilities  rather  than  as 
a  means  of  fastening  a  monopoly  upon  the  community.  In  Wyoming 
and  Nebraska  the  true  principle  has  already  been  adopted  by  the 
State  boards  of  control  and  put  into  practice  with  the  best  results.  If 
it  can  be  maintained  and  speedily  extended  to  the  other  States,  as  it 
surely  must  be  in  time,  it  would  mark  an  economic  reform  of  the 
highest  significance  in  the  life  of  the  West. 

APPROPRIATION   AND   DISTRIBUTION   OF   THE   WATER  SUPPLY. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  correct  solution  of  the  question  of  water 
ownership  are  the  great  problems  of  appropriation  and  of  distribu- 
tion. As  soon  as  possible  all  ditches  used  in  irrigation  should  be 
carefully  measured  by  some  public  authority  and  the  results  of  this 
measurement  be  given  the  widest  publicity,  in  order  that  irrigators 
may  know  approximately  how  much  is  taken  and  how  much  remains 
to  be  taken  by  new  canals.  The  need  of  this  information  is  so  obvious 
that  it  will  perhaps  be  difficult  for  readers  unfamiliar  with  the  sub- 
ject to  credit  the  assertion  that  in  all  but  four  of  the  Western  States 
the  matter  has  been  wholly  neglected.  This  fact  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  the  disheartening  litigation  which  prevails  so  widely. 

It  is  of  almost  equal  importance  to  have  a  scientific  determination 
of  the  practical  duty  of  water,  showing  the  amount  required  for  differ- 
ent soils  and  crops.  Still  further,  there  must  be  some  form  of  public 
control  in  the  distribution  of  water.  Trouble  always  results  when 
this  is  left  to  rival  users  to  determine  how  much  they  need,  espe- 
cially in  years  of  partial  drought,  when  the  supply  may  be  insufficient 
for  all,  and  it  is  consequently  necessary  to  recognize  appropriations 
in  the  order  of  their  priority. 

(Check  gates  on  main  canal  and  a  measuring  weir  are  shown  in 
PI.  LVIII.) 

PUBLIC   SUPERVISION   AND   CONTROL   OF  IRRIGATION. 

The  entire  discussion  leads  up  to  one  inevitable  conclusion :  This  is 
that  irrigation,  over  and  above  all  other  industries,  is  a  matter  demand- 
ing public  supervision  and  control.  Every  drop  of  water  entering  the 
head  gate,  and  every  drop  escaping  at  the  end  of  the  canal,  is  a  matter 
of  public  concern.  The  public  must  determine,  through  constitutions 
and  statutes,  the  nature  of  water  ownership.  The  public  must  estab- 
lish means  for  the  measurement  of  streams  and  for  ascertaining  how 
much  water  may  be  taken  for  each  acre  of  land  under  the  principle 
of  beneficial  use.  The  public  must  see  that  justice  is  done  in  the 
distribution  of  water  among  those  who  have  properly  established 
their  rightful  claims  to  it.  We  have  thoroughly  tried  the  method  of 


Yearbook  U.  S.  Dept  of  Agriculture,  1899. 


PLATE  LVIII. 


FIG.  1.— A  CHECK  AND  LATERAL  GATE  ON  MAIN  CANAL. 


FIG.  2.— A  CIPPOLETTI  MEASURING  WEIR. 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OF    IRRIGATION.  609 

leaving  all  this  to  private  initiative  and  management,  and,  along  with 
magnificent  material  progress,  we  have  reaped  a  large  crop  of  deplor- 
able financial  results. 

While  much  must  be  left  to  the  action  of  States  and  communities, 
there  is  still  a  wide  field  for  national  effort.  Only  the  nation  can  leg- 
islate as  to  the  public  lands  and  reform  the  abuses  which  have  been 
referred  to  in  connection  with  the  present  system  of  land  laws.  There 
is  a  strong  popular  demand  in  the  West  for  legislation  providing  pub- 
lic aid  in  the  construction  of  works  of  too  great  magnitude  and  cost 
for  private  enterprise  and  a  growing  belief  that  one  of  two  things 
should  be  done :  Either  the  arid  States  should  be  placed  in  a  position 
to  extend  this  aid,  or  the  General  Government  should  extend  the  work 
it  is  now  doing  in  the  reclamation  of  certain  Indian  reservations  to 
the  reclamation  of  the  unoccupied  public  lands.  One  policy  much 
discussed  and  widely  favored  is  legislation  which  will  permit  of  the 
leasing  of  the  public  grazing  lands  for  a  term  of  years  at  a  small 
annual  rental,  the  proceeds  to  be  given  to  the  several  arid  States  and 
applied  by  them  to  irrigation  development.  If  this  is  carried  out,  the 
settlers  owning  the  contiguous  irrigated  land  should  be  favored;  the 
object  being  to  unite  with  the  lands  reclaimed  a  certain  portion  of 
the  public  pasture. 

The  National  Government  alone  can  make  the  best  and  broadest 
study  of  the  various  economic  questions  related  to  the  development 
of  agriculture  on  arid  lands.  This  includes  not  only  the  measure- 
ment of  streams  and  survey  of  reservoir  sites,  but  also  a  consideration 
of  practical  methods  of  applying  water  to  the  soil  and  of  social  and 
industrial  institutions  adapted  to  the  environment  of  the  arid  region. 
The  nation  alone  can  deal  with  the  conflicting  rights  in  interstate  and 
international  streams  and  with  the  construction  of  great  reservoirs  at 
their  head  waters,  with  a  view  to  benefiting  the  several  States  lying 
along  their  course.  The  National  Government  is  already  active  along 
all  these  lines,  and  the  field  for  the  expansion  of  its  efforts  is  wide 
and  inviting. 

INFLUENCE    OF   IRRIGATION   UPON   PEOPLE   AND   COUNTRY. 

While  a  description  of  existing  conditions  in  the  far  West  neces- 
sarily includes  references  to  many  evils  and  disappointments,  there  is 
a  brighter  side  to  the  picture,  and  the  future  is  luminous  with  new 
hopes  for  humanity.  A  vast  population  will  make  its  homes  in  val- 
leys now  vacant  and  voiceless,  yet  potentially  the  best  part  of  our 
national  heritage.  They  will  create  institutions  which  will  realize 
higher  ideals  of  society  than  the  world  has  yet  seen.  Irrigation  is 
much  more  than  an  affair  of  ditches  and  acres.  It  not  only  makes 
civilization  possible  where  men  could  not  live  without  it,  but  it  shapes 
that  civilization  after  its  own  peculiar  design.  Its  underlying  influ- 
ence is  that  which  makes  for  democracy  and  individual  independence. 
1  A  99 39 


610    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

IRRIGATION   PRODUCTIVE   OF   SMALL   PROPRIETORS. 

Where  land  can  only  be  cultivated  by  means  of  the  artificial  appli- 
tion  of  water,  and  where  that  water  is  not  under  speculative  control, 
it  is  owned  in  small  holdings.  This  is  so  because  irrigation  intensi- 
fies the  product  of  the  land  and  so  demands  much  labor.  It  is  a  kind 
of  labor  which  can  not  profitably  be  left  to  hired  hands.  The  result 
is  a  multitude  of  small  proprietors  working  for  themselves.  This 
fact  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  southern  California.  Here  the  farms 
are  small  and  almost  exclusively  occupied  by  their  owners.  But  the 
great  wheat  ranches  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  notably  in  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley,  depend  chiefly  upon  hired  laborers,  who  make  no 
homes  of  their  own.  The  Sacramento  Valley  has  less  population  now 
than  it  had  twenty-five  years  ago.  Of  the  increase  of  the  rural  pop- 
ulation of  the  State  between  1880  and  1890,  77  per  cent  went  to  the 
irrigated  counties,  and  largely  consisted  of  families  who  bought  small 
farms  and  proceeded  to  do  their  own  work.  The  influence  of  a  great 
mass  of  small  proprietors  tilling  their  own  land  can  not  fail  to  have  a 
very  marked  effect  upon  the  character  of  the  institutions. 

DIVERSIFIED   FARMING   A   FEATURE   OF   IRRIGATION. 

Irrigation  lends  itself  naturally  to  diversified  farming  and  tends  to 
make  population  self-sufficient  within  itself.  Although  in  certain 
localities,  especially  those  where  the  climate  is  favorable  to  raisins 
ancT  oranges,  the  contrary  has  sometimes  been  true,  the  tendency  of 
irrigation  as  a  whole  has  been  to  discourage  the  production  of  single 
crops  and  make  families  independent  by  producing  the  variety  of 
things  they  consume.  This  tendency  is  steadily  gaining  ground. 
The  diversified  farming  which  irrigation  both  permits  and  encourages 
will  be  an  important  element  in  contributing  to  the  independence  of 
the  people  who  shall  inhabit  the  arid  region  of  the  future. 

IRRIGATION   AS   A   TRAINING   IN   SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  irrigation  is  the  training  it  gives  in 
self-government.  A  farmer  under  irrigation  can  not  remain  ignorant 
and  indifferent  of  public  questions.  He  has  to  consider  his  interest 
in  the  river  which  feeds  his  canal  and  the  nature  of  his  relation  to 
other  users  along  its  course.  It  is  a  training  school  in  self-government 
and  gives  the  first  impetus  to  civilization  in  rainless  regions.  The 
capacity  of  the  American  farmer  has  already  been  demonstrated.  He 
is  the  author  of  the  best  of  our  irrigation  laws.  Colorado  was  the 
first  State  to  enact  a  law  providing  for  the  public  control  of  streams 
and  some  sort  of  systematic  procedure  for  the  establishment  of  rights, 
but  the  credit  of  that  is  not  due  to  her  statesmen,  but  to  the  discus- 
sions of  theGreeley  Lyceum  and  the  public  spirit  and  independence  of 
the  irrigators  under  the  Colony  Canal.  Opposed  by  the  conservatism 


RISE    AND    FUTURE    OP    IRRIGATION.  611 

of  the  legal  profession  and  the  prejudices  of  those  not  practically 
familiar  with  the  subject,  they  had  a  long  and  doubtful  struggle  to 
secure  the  adoption  of  a  statute  which  for  a  time  made  the  State  the 
lawgiver  of  the  arid  region. 

In  Utah  the  practices  of  water  users  are  a  hundred  years  in  advance 
of  the  State  laws.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  irrigators  recognize 
insensibly  the  community  nature  of  their  interest  in  the  streams. 
The  old  feudal  idea  of  private  ownership  in  water  has  never  made  an 
irrigated  district  prosperous,  and  it  never  will. 

IRRIGATION   AND    COOPERATION. 

Another  feature  is  the  tendency  toward  cooperation.  Under  the 
Wyoming  law  accepting  the  Carey  grant  this  cooperation  is  made 
obligatory.  Every  settler  under  a  canal  becomes  a  shareholder 
therein.  Not  only  does  the  right  to  water  attach  to  the  land,  but  a 
share  in  the  canal  sufficient  to  carry  the  water  also  goes  with  it.  In 
fact,  the  need  of  watering  many  farms  from  a  common  source  and  of 
organizing  a  community  under  rules  and  discipline  for  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  supply  make  a  nursery  of  cooperation.  Its  most  conspic- 
uous manifestation  is  in  the  widespread  and  successful  fruit  exchanges 
of  California.  There  are  many  instances  of  smaller  and  more  local 
organizations  of  a  cooperative  industrial  character,  and  they  are  mul- 
tiplying rapidly.  They  seem  likely  to  deal  with  yet  larger  affairs  in 
the  future  as  communities  gain  in  age,  numbers,  and  wealth. 

EFFECT    OF    IRRIGATION    ON    SOCIAL   LIFE. 

Heretofore  one  of  the  evils  of  the  irrigated  home  has  been  its  isola- 
tion. The  valleys  of  many  streams  are  narrow.  The  broad  areas 
which  lie  between  these  valleys  are  the  home  of  cattle  and  sheep,  but 
not  of  men.  The  Anglo-Saxon  thirst  for  land,  and  the  opportunity 
which  the  desert-land  act  gave  to  gratify  it,  resulted  at  first  in  a  wide 
separation  between  homes,  and  in  a  loss  to  the  pioneer  of  the  advan- 
tages of  schools,  churches,  and  social  life.  Under  the  larger  and 
later  canals  the  tendency  has  been  in  the  other  direction.  The  Euro- 
pean custom  of  making  homes  in  village  centers  has  been  adopted  in 
parts  of  Utah,  Wyoming,  Idaho,  and  California,  and  steadily  gains 
-  in  public  favor.  Where  farmers  live  in  villages,  their  families  enjoy 
ready  access  to  schools,  churches,  libraries,  and  entertainments.  The 
agricultural  society  of  the  future  in  the  Western  valleys  will  realize  a 
happy  combination  of  town  and  country  life— the  independence  which 
springs  from  the  proprietorship  of  the  soil  and  the  satisfaction  of  the 
social  instinct  which  comes  only  with  community  association.  Such 
conditions  are  favorable  to  the  growth  of  the  best  forms  of  civiliza- 
tion and  the  noblest  institutions.  This  is  the  hope  which  lies  fallow 
the  arid  valleys  of  the  West.  Its  realization  is  well  worth  the 


'" 


612    YEARBOOK  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

struggle  which  is  impending  for  the  reform  of  our  land  and  water 
laws,  and  which  will  impose  high  demands  upon  our  statesmanship 
and  call  for  the  exercise  of  the  best  order  of  patriotism. 

THE    COMMERCIAL   IMPORTANCE    OF   IRRIGATION. 

The  commercial  importance  of  the  development  of  irrigation  re- 
sources is  being  realized  in  the  West  at  the  present  time  as  never 
before.  Especially  in  California  there  is  a  new  awakening,  and  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  best  elements  of  citizenship  to  remove  the 
obstacles  which  have  formerly  hampered  both  public  and  private 
enterprise.  The  East,  as  a  whole,  is  beginning  to  realize  the  great  part 
which  the  West  is  to  have  in  the  events  of  the  twentieth  century. 
World-wide  forces  are  working  to  hasten  the  day  of  its  complete 
development  and  of  the  utilization  of  all  its  rich  resources.  The 
Orient  is  awake  and  offering  its  markets  to  the  trade  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  With  the  development  of  this  trade  there  will  come  an  impulse 
for  the  completion  of  the  material  conquest  of  arid  America  by  the 
enlistment  of  public  as  well  as  private  means  in  the  storage  and 
diversion  of  its  streams  for  the  irrigation  of  its  hundred  million  acres 
of  irrigable  soil;  the  harnessing  of  its  water  powers  to  mill  and  fac- 
tory wheels;  the  crowding  of  its  pastures  with  new  millions  of  live 
stock;  the  opening  up  of  its  mines  and  quarries;  the  conversion  of 
its  forests  into  human  habitations;  the  coming  of  a  vast  population, 
and  the  growth  of  institutions  worthy  of  the  time  and  the  place. 


I 


